Pages

Monday, 7 May 2012

A Facebook Stealth Mobbing and a Book is Born!

The day before the launch of Teri Terry's exciting first book Slated, things went a little... er... crazy... (What can I say? It started innocently enough!)

"What a great promotion idea!" someone commented on Facebook, a few hours into the day. Well - it wasn't so much a promotion idea as a Big Giggle. But yeah. It ended up being pretty good, promotion wise.

Fellow NFTSP blogger Teri Terry had one of those classic long journeys to publication, so last week, when her dystopian teen novel SLATED finally launched, the NFTSP team felt like making a big deal about it.

Jo Wyton said wouldn't it be fun to do a Stealth Mob on FB?

Because Teri's striking cover, with its heroine in desaturated colours, all big green goo goo eyes and deep red lips, was an open invitation for a Photoshopping spree. So we set to work sending out feelers on Facebook, inviting people to post Slated style profile photos of themselves on the day before Teri's book launch.

The first to be "Slated" of course were the Notes from the Slushpile blogging team:

We had just intended this to be a little something. You know, between friends. Thing is, when you belong to the SCBWI, 'between friends' means about a gazillion people. Still, we were surprised by the reaction. People started saying saying, 'Me too! Me too!' And when the first photo went up in the morning, the floodgates opened.

The members header of the British SCBWI group page turned into a stripe of Slated profile pictures

23 comments
:

But using the cover to make a promotion go viral like that is a creative use of marketing. I'm going to put Slated onto my list of books to consider to buy, since the premise seems intriguing enough. Hopefully, I'll enjoy it once I get it.

It was a great promotion and great fun. Huge thanks to Candy for slating so many of us. I'm still quite terrified of mine. And it got people's interest. I've had someone from my facebook friends who's not a writer who's googled the book as a result and wants to read it now. I'm sure there are plenty of others. Can't wait to start reading it this week, Teri. All the best, Clare.

You're welcome! But that cover is just perfect for such a thing. If there was such a thing as social networking when Celia Rees' Witch Child with its eponymous girl-just-looking jacket first came out in 2000 (?), this would have been the perfect stunt.

I spent most of the day on facebook instead of writing! I loved seeing all the faces popping up and it was such a reminder to me of what life was like before the internet and scoobie. We all have so many supportive writing friends to have a giggle with, so well done to Jo and Candy for arranging it all :) And well done to Teri's cover designer for designing a cover we could have fun with.

It was great fun when we were all sniggering together on the Facebook SCBWI page waiting for Teri to stop trying on shoes and get online.The designer did a good job with the cover - somehow the design could cope any of the many liberties that were taken with it.

and I spent the whole afternoon on Facebook instead of writing my speech! Think how eloquent I could have been...But it was SUCH fun: thanks Jo and Candy and everyone else who got involved. I'll certainly never forget it :O)

I have to say, I think Julienne's was far and away one of the best - so utterly sinister! Along with Chris Priestley who was just wonderfully subversive!Good fun all around, only now you realise a precedent has been set and all debut authors are going to expect a stealth mobbing of some sort! ;-)